Looking for Newbies with a large amt of weight to lose..

[LoriO]

Wow, this thread is great! I decided to start biking about 2 years ago for weight loss and health reasons (high blood pressure, etc). Hubby bought me a decent hybrid bike for my birthday (a Raleigh C200) and I started biking some. I am not sure how much I weighed because I refused to get on a scale at first but I would guess around 250 and wearing about a size 20.

The first thing I discovered is that there is almost NO flat area where I live. Everything is hills so I got discouraged at first. Some of the hills around here are really tough!! I still biked occasionally and between the bike, the gym and changing my diet I lost about 25-30 pounds.

Then last year I started having really bad knee troubles. I ended up not being able to do anything from November through about February with knee surgery the end of December. Once the physical therapist ok'd me working out again I set up my bike on the trainer in the garage (someone else made the comment about thank god for MP3 players...how true!!!) and started really biking there.

When the weather finally warmed up, I decided to hit the road again. Wow, all that time on the trainer really paid off. Suddenly, the hills all seemed so much easier!!! I also have picked up a rack for my car so I can go other places and get a break from the hills.

I am now down to about 217 after a long weight plateau at 220. I think the muscle I was adding was counter balancing the fat loss but I was still seeing a difference in clothes so that at least kept me motivated. I am now down to a size 16. YEAH!!!

I still have about another 40 to go but it is slowly happening! I am starting to feel so much better about how I feel and my blood pressure has improved dramatically! My DR even took me off one of the meds he had me on. WHOO HOOOO!!!!!

This is great hearing everyones elses stories. This is great motivation to keep it going!

[LoriO]

Robin, where in VT are you? I'm in CT but Hubby and I often vacation up there. Maybe we can meet up someday for a ride together!

I went to school in Northfield and lived in Randolph for awhile, and worked down in Bethel!!!